Water pipeline rupture affects Stone Oak

A San Antonio Water System crew works to rebuild a pipe junction that ruptured near Bitters Road and U.S. 281.

A San Antonio Water System crew works to rebuild a pipe junction...

SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Water System is urging customers in the Stone Oak area on the far North Side not to do any outdoor watering until a pipe junction rupture is repaired — hopefully by Wednesday, though officials said it could take a day or more.

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“It could be hours, or it could be a day and a half,” SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden said Tuesday.

A buildup of pressure caused the rupture in an underground “T-joint” connecting a 48-inch main with a 16-inch line extending from an Edwards Aquifer well field near Bitters Road and U.S. 281 early Tuesday.

The joint was about 10 feet underground and was part of the former Bexar Metropolitan Water District, which merged with SAWS in 2012 after voters approved an initiative to dissolve the district.

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The rupture affected some 14,000 homes and businesses — tens of thousands of people, particularly those in The Vineyard, Sonterra and Greystone areas. To ensure an adequate supply for washing, cooking and bathing, all of Stone Oak was urged not to water outdoors, not even with buckets or hand-held hoses, until repairs are completed and full service restored.

SAWS has developed four interconnections with the former Bexar Met system to provide water for essential uses, with water from the Trinity Aquifer and Canyon Lake, Hayden said.

Enforcement officers will ask people to turn off sprinklers if they are running while repairs are ongoing, she said. .

Crews were getting parts shipped from Central Texas on Tuesday to rebuild the T-joint.